Minister confident house building sector picking up

Housing Minister Nick Smith says it's misleading to read too much into the fall in housing consents in June.

Infometrics economist Matthew Nolan has said the 4% drop in consents in the month could be a sign that political comments and the prospect of future Government intervention in the housing market might be stifling the residential building recovery.

Dr Smith says he's confident the house building sector is picking up and that his work on freeing up the consent process will be critical to getting the houses built that New Zealand needs.

"I think it's a bit selective just to use the data for June when the two previous months, May and April, actually resulted in the highest quarter or three month period of building consents on record, bar 2007."